Hibernating Snakes Halt Gigafactory Berlin Construction -
In order to build their upcoming Gigafactory Berlin, Tesla had to clear a portion of a forest which caused many problems from local environmentalist groups. Firstly, Tesla was required to relocate an endangered bat species from the land in the first phase of construction. Recently, the local environmentalists sued Tesla because the land that they are in the process of clearing is home to hibernating (technically brumating) snakes and Tesla was forced to halt construction for a couple days until the court ruled that Tesla had already moved as many snakes as they could and they were cleared to continue the construction process. It is awfully ironic that a company aiming to reduce global warming and harmful emissions is experiencing pushback from environmentalist groups in the area.
Tesla Has a New Leasing Experience -
In an effort to further simplify the car purchase and ownership experience, Tesla plans to launch a new leasing experience in 2021. As can be seen, the new experience aims to streamline the entire process of leasing a vehicle and enables the customer to do everything themselves, without the need for Tesla employees to get involved. The new system enables owners to, extend leases, transfer a lease, purchase a leased vehicle, sell their vehicle to non-Tesla dealers, report a total loss, and request a lease termination. It currently appears that every lessee will have access to the experience in 2021. This is a big step forward to streamlining the ownership experience, as all of these actions would traditionally require a phone call.